The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a charitable society that was founded in 1949. LLS. is dedicated to blood cancer awareness and it is the world’s largest voluntary health organization. Their mission is to cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and Myeloma, and improve the quality of patient’s lives and families.  

Sophomore, Olivia Song, has been working with LLS for the past year and was nominated to be a Student of the Year 2019 Candidate for Orlando. In addition to the fundraiser, she is now working with the organization as a mentor for the Student of the Year 2020 Candidates for Jacksonville. Song decided that she wanted to join this program when she found that her dad’s best friend was diagnosed with a rare form of Lymphoma and to treat it, she had to travel to Houston, Texas. Currently, his friend has been cured of Lymphoma and is doing well. 

Student of the Year is a seven-week campaign where the candidate raises as much money as possible and, at the end of the period, there is a gala that is held where the winner who has raised the most money during those weeks is announced. Candidates start to prepare for the campaign in October or November. They cannot start to collect money until the first day of the campaign. During those couple of months before the campaign starts, there are two goal planning meetings and workshops to prepare you for the campaign. As stated in the rules, a candidate cannot start to collect money until the campaign starts in February. This year Song did not win, but she went through a lot of growth and learning experiences. 

The Children’s Volunteer Club at Winter Springs High School also worked with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They held several fundraising campaigns including ‘Pennies for Patients,’

‘Stuck for a Buck,’ where they taped WSHS Principal, Mr. Gaffney to the wall, and ‘Chuck Your Change,’ where club members were outside in the parking lots asking students and parents to throw leftover change they had in their cars. All the money that the club received doing the different types of fundraisers went back to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has supported many different clubs and students at Winter Springs High School. For more information on how to get involved, check out their website: https://www.lls.org/